Heat Transfer in Vertical Shell and Spiral Tube Heat Exchanger, ANSYS Fluent Training

Description

The present problem simulates the heat transfer process inside a vertical helical shell and tube heat exchanger using ANSYS Fluent software. We perform this CFD project and investigate it by CFD analysis.

The present model is designed in three dimensions using Design Modeler software. The model is a shell-tube heat exchanger with spiral tubes designed vertically.

The cylindrical shell of the thermal model has a height of 500 mm, and a diameter of 60 mm, the spiral tube inside the shell has a diameter of 3 mm, and the step of the screw around the central axis of the shell is equal to 18 mm.

The meshing of the model has been done using ANSYS Meshing software. The element number is 3915382.

Heat Transfer Methodology

This heat exchanger consists of a vertical cylindrical shell with a spiral tube inside. The hotter part of the heat exchanger is related to the spiral tube of the heat exchanger, and the colder part is related to the shell of the heat exchanger.

Hot water flows with a velocity of 3.34 m/s and a temperature equal to 350 K from the upper part of the heat exchanger and enters the spiral tube. Cold water flows with a velocity equal to 0.216 m/s and a temperature equal to 300 K from the upper part.

The transducer enters the inner space of the shell. This work investigates the heat transfer process between the two sides of the heat exchanger.

Moreover, the RNG k-epsilon model and energy equation are enabled to solve turbulent fluid equations and calculate temperature distribution within the domain.

Heat Transfer Conclusion

At the end of the solution process, two-dimensional and three-dimensional counters related to pressure, velocity, and temperature inside the heat exchanger are obtained.

Two-dimensional contours are obtained on a plane passing through the center of the heat exchanger on both sides of the shell and the spiral tube.

The results show that heat transfer is done between the two sides of the shell heat exchanger and the spiral tube, and the heat is from the hot part of the exchanger (spiral tube) to the cold part of the exchanger (shell).